Sunday, November 9, 2008

Writer (Beta): Two Keyboards Up… Way Up.

So if you’ll remember from my post From [Here] to <There> I mentioned that I was going to write up a little review of WindowsLive’s Writer (Beta). Well, today is the day of prophecy!! It turns out that this program is really nifty. It does one thing. And it does it well! –You: “But Rob, that’s your opinion. What do you have to back it up?”

I’m glad you asked [You]. To start off with, installation was a breeze. The only information that I had to provide was my blog’s URL, username, and password. Writer took that and ran like Forest Gump. It configured itself from there on out to be able to very seamlessly administer to the writing and editing of the posts on my blog.

This MoFo starts off looking like a word processor, (one that just so happens to have the same look and settings as the blog’s webspace), then goes on to act as FTP interface for the blog post itself and any pictures or video you may add. Heck, you can even add a map insert. (Yeah, I just found that out :-) ). (You’ll see little links for all of these actions to the right side of the main window screenshot.)

Another cool feature (yes, in my opinion) is that posts can be retrieved from your site, edited, and then reposted with the corrections/additions. And the action is very seamless (there’s that word again). Doing this feels just like something as simple as editing a TXT document. Well, it’s even easier really, because your recent previous posts of also listed to the right on the main screen.

Honestly, there’s really not much else to it. Every action you might want to do with a post is covered in a concise, simple, seamless (Ha ha. Had to get at least one more in :) ) way and the user interface isn’t all jumbled and busy. Simplicity? Efficiency?? From the makers of Windows??? Yeah, we’re entering into a new era. Have to be.

P.S. – My apologies for the bad formatting, with regards to the pictures. They don’t lend themselves to being in a post, but I wanted you to be able to see at least some of the program.